Nigerians truly amaze me. Many of us are in denial that this country is facing what may turn out to be the biggest civil war ever. I am terribly amazed that some ‘well meaning legislators’ think that there is no need to continue with the state of emergency in the three frontline states in the war.
So what do they want? A relaxation of the emergency rules of security and other governance and human rights abridgements and a return to normal state of things in those states?
It was very appalling for me to watch these ‘patriotic’ legislators argue with passion that the emergency status must be halted and reversed. And then with a snicker on their faces, they referred the president to a section of the constitution he could rely on “if he so wished” to fight the insurgents.
Indeed, it led me to conclude that there is really little understanding of the deep challenge that this country is facing. In the first place, the emergency status was reluctantly approved and because the war had not ended after 18 months, we should abandon the status and return to business as usual?
What a tragedy! It is akin to saying that because a patient who has been on the machine for months has not fully recovered, we should yank him off the life machine and allow him ‘freedom’ to move about and go wherever he wants!
In the first place, I am sorry to say that the type of emergency rule we have in the three frontline states is a misnomer, a child’s play, if you ask me.
What kind of emergency rule do we have, and all the political structures remain in place and everybody and everything remains as normal except for checkpoints or the need to run when the insurgents advance?
And yet we expect such “childish” emergency status to yield ‘magical’ result in a few months. I am not holding brief or making any excuses for the military. They are only part of us. We have the military we deserve, just as we have the leadership we deserve. Period.
Otherwise how can an army in war find time and resources to gather its senior army officers at the Le Meridian Hotel in Uyo for the chief of army staff conference, to listen to some political speeches and then savour the ‘hospitality’ of the Akwa Ibom people in the evenings. War strategies are not discussed in front of television cameras. No, we are not yet at war!
Nevertheless, I am pleased with General Gowon’s speech read by General Marwa. Unlike the commander-in-chief who in his characteristic ‘gentle’ manner expressed satisfaction with the performance of the army, General Gowon told the army some hard truths.
Gowon prosecuted a civil war with much less number of soldiers and with much smaller equipment and armour. So he has experience as a true General who became one in the battlefield.
My simple and perhaps ‘foolish’ question is, can we recall him, not as head of state but as military commander, to use his experience to prosecute this new war? After all, I am told that all retired soldiers are on the reserve list.
Now that we have ‘broken’ our military partnership with America, perhaps General Gowon can link us up with his wartime partners in Russia and elsewhere. To me, this matter is serious and we must do what can be done to stop this daily massacre of innocent Nigerians.
Brigadier- General Mohammed Buba Marwa must have been sent by Gowon to the army conference to make a point. I do not know if Marwa fought in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, but he proved a very courageous officer when he was military governor of Lagos State.
When Lagos was threatened by some ‘bombers and terrorists’, Marwa came out boldly and drew a line on the sand and dared the ‘terrorists’ to cross the line. The siege ended.
That’s the stuff of Generals we need to fight this new war. Not the type that would announce publicly that the insurgency would end several months ago and in December, the insurgency is escalating. And nothing happens.
Last week, the minister of interior and the police chief were fired by President Kenyatta because the Al-shabab terrorists killed some Kenyans and indeed seem to be getting the upper hand in their onslaught against Kenya.
I believe that our commander-in-chief must be rebuking the military in private and expressing his disgust and frustration at the security meetings behind closed doors. But because he is a civilian commander-in-chief, who is by nature genteel, considerate, and democratic, he seems to exercise a lot of restraint and patience.
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